The disclosures herein relate in general to information handling systems and in particular to a method and system for monitoring status in a network having wireless and wired connections.
Information handling systems (e.g., portable computers) are frequently equipped with an integrated network controller, such as a local area network (“LAN”) on motherboard (“LOM”) network controller. With the LOM network controller, the information handling system readily connects (via a wired connection) to a wired network, so that a user is not compelled to install additional hardware. Also, wireless information handling systems are popular. To achieve wireless communication, information handling systems are frequently equipped with a radio frequency (“RF”) modem, which typically plugs into a mating connector of the information handling system.
Many users prefer to monitor a status of their network connections, whether it be wired or wireless. According to one conventional technique for monitoring a status of the wired connection, the system has a network connector (e.g., jack) that includes 2 LED indicators, namely (a) a first LED to monitor activity of the wired connection and (b) a second LED to monitor speed of the wired connection. For example, with at least one version of an RJ-45 connector, a first LED glows yellow to indicate activity on the wired connection, and a second LED glows a suitable one of 2 different colors to indicate different network speeds. In this example, when the second LED is green, it indicates a 10 Mbps wired connection, and when the second LED is amber, it indicates a 100 Mbps wired connection.
According to one conventional technique for monitoring a status of the wireless connection (in addition to the wired connection), the system has additional indicators that are dedicated to monitoring the wireless connection's activity and speed. However, such a technique increases the system's overall cost, due to: (a) expenses associated with providing multiple versions of systems with different mechanical housings (e.g., a first mechanical housing having indicators for a system with a fixed network controller, and a second mechanical housing having additional indicators for a system with both the fixed network controller and a wireless modem); and (b) an overall increase in the system's parts count.
Accordingly, a need has arisen for a method and system for monitoring status in a network having wireless and wired connections, in which more status is indicated by a fixed number of indicators.